U.S. SENATE PRIMARY: Chris Murphy, Democrat

Chris Murphy represents Connecticut’s 5th District in Congress. He’s focused on bringing jobs back to Connecticut and is known for his commitment to listening to people, knocking on doors year round and holding office hours at supermarkets. Chris lives in Cheshire with his wife Cathy and their sons Owen and Rider.

For too many Connecticut residents, this economic downturn has lasted too long and hurt too much. The job of Connecticut’s next U.S. Senator is to have a laser-like focus on building a new relationship between the public and private sector to reclaim our nation’s economic greatness, break out of tired old policy molds, and create a new foundation to support a renaissance of the American dream.

I know the American dream because my family lived it. My mother grew up poor, living in public housing, and she succeeded, beyond her parents’ wildest dreams, because she worked hard and played by the rules, and because her government gave her the tools of success. Those tools included public housing, a great public education, and financial aid to go to college. She didn’t ask for a handout or a giveaway, just a little help to allow her to climb into the middle class.

That’s why I decided to run for office — to re-strike the delicate but important balance between private initiative and public investment. That’s why as a young state senator, I wrote Connecticut’s landmark Stem Cell Investment Act, making Connecticut the first state in the nation to invest public dollars in life-saving stem cell research. This public investment leveraged millions in private dollars to create discoveries and breakthroughs that will save lives and create Connecticut jobs. And it’s why in Congress, I’ve made it my mission to make sure that U.S. taxpayer dollars, when used to buy goods for the federal government, are sent to U.S. companies. I created the “Buy America Caucus,” to bring Republicans and Democrats together to make sure that public tax dollars are going to private companies that employ U.S. workers, rather than workers in China or Mexico. It’s our money and it should go to create jobs here in the United States.

Over my time in the state legislature and the U.S. Congress, I haven’t just talked about creating jobs and supporting the American dream, I’ve been at the center of the fight. And that’s what Connecticut needs in our next U.S. Senator — someone who knows, personally, the importance of that great public/private partnership that built America, and someone that has a history of fighting on behalf of middle-class families and those that aspire to climb into the middle class.